Bale-tie buckle



Oct. 23, 192s. 1,688,365

' J. A. TODD BALE TIE BUCKLE Filed may ;o, 1926 Patented ct. 23, 1928i.

JAMES A. Tomi,

OF ATTALJA,` ALABAMA, ASSIGNOR TO COM'RESS LE COMPANY,

OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS, A CORPORATIONOF TEXAS.

Bami-'rin iauoiinii.l

Application tiled May 10,

My invention relates to bale tie buckles of the type usually employedior securingthe ties or bands thatare applied to bales of cotton, jute and other baled goods. More,particularly, my invention relates to bale tie bucklesforinedof bent wire to provide a closed end, side wallswhich are slightly divergent andare intended to bend into parallelism when in service, and tree ends bent inwardly to form the open end `of the buckle. In lbuckles of this type, it iscustomary to Vbend the free inturned ends so that they diverge on opposite sides from the planeet the buckle with the object that as the tension is applied to the loop ot the band these free yends will be drawn inwardly towards position in the plane of 4the buckle. Also, it is desirable that the -ends should be bent upwardly towards the closed end ot the buckle sothat when the whole strain comes on them they are free to bind down slightly and bring the divergent side wallsinto parallelism.

Heretoi'ore, iny general practice, the inbent ends have been of equal lengthso that their jointcomes substantially opposite the center Y of the band. I have conceived that `the y strength of buckles of this type can be ina- Vterially increased if the joint can be brought vso close to one side that the open end of the buckle will havepractically the ,full strength of the wire forming the buckleftoresist the pull on the band, i. e., that the band will not be in such relation to the joint asto apply pressure on the bu kle vends with any sub- .,5: stantial leverage against the` side walls of the buckleV that would tend to spreadthem and weaken or destroy the buckle. To attain `this object, I design mypresent buckle with a short inturned en d and a long inturned 0 rend so related that Jing theshort end. v i

y My invention also contemplates thatthe long end, as vit is drawn to operating tion by the bite of the bale band, `will sov engage the short end that the latter will take the leverage strain from the longend and in i effect constitute a support `for the long 'end to withstand the strain thereon of thebale band that holds these parts in engagement.

Ihaveconceived that'the lstrength of the buckle will be further increased if means are provided to cause the inbent ends, as they'are4 y their lapped joint is i brought close to the Vside ofthe buckle carryn n n lapping operating position of the buckle ends.

posiiezs.` s eriai No. 108,002.

drawn together by the strain on the band into operating position, to interlock, as such an `interlock'will in a large measure prevent the possibility of the sides of the buckle spreading beyond parallelism. When such spreadingoccurs the strength oi' the holding ends is materially weakened f and the buckle is liable to give way. To this end I have designed the engaging'portions of the long and short eiidslso as to provide interlocking portions when such 4ends are deformedunder tension strainfrom theband `into their operating position. Preferably the side of the buckle carrying the short end is made longer than the sideo the buckle carrying the long end and the latter endisdisposed so as to be drawn both inwardly and downwardly as the strain comes on the buckle until when vthe lsides of the buckle assume parallelism this long end kwill stand at right angles to the sides and will be fully supported by and` interlocked with the short end, making it practically impossible under ordinary usag for the buckle sides to spread. y

My invention w-ill be better understood by reference to the 'accompanying specificationy and claims, and in its preferred embodiment only will be found illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part of this specification, and in which v Fig. 1 is a plan view of the buckle, before the band is applied,fthe band being shown inL4 preliminary position/in dotted lines.

n FigzQ is an end of Fig. l. A Fig. 3 shows the tie buckle in vplan with the band under full tension inoperating position with the buckle sides spread into parallelism and vwith the bale Aband broken away to show the buckle in full view.

Fig. iis a ,cross-sectional view taken on the linel-V-i oi: Fig.` 3, and showing the over- Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the buckle.

lar Lparts throughout the drawings. ,y

towards the longer side 2 which is prefera- 105 blyparallel with the long axis of the buckle.

The long side 2 terminates in a short inbent `Similar reference numerals refer to simibent end 5 which is preferably rstraight and in length will be but slightly less than "the end 4 and the side 3 terminates in a long indistance between the buckle sides when parallel. -Both ends 4 and 45 may be caused(r to diverge oppositely fromthe plane of the buckle if desired, but itis only essential 'wards the closed end l.

:The relative length of the will be engaged by the end 5 when the buckle is lin service. "In like manner, the free end of the buckle end 5 is deformed to'provide al hump or `slioulder"i' disposed and shaped to interlock'with the hump,`left ,by theind'enta'tion 6 on the `buckle end'4, when in service, as will be more clearly seen in 3. n legs 2 and 3 is preferably such that the end 5 when drawn into its operating position',` as shown in Fig.

' 3, vwill be atright angles to thelegs 2 and 3,

Regardl which will at thetimebe parallel.

liess of the length of the end 4 the strain 'ted lines in F ig. 1. As tension is ,applied lthe loopy is drawn down between the'sides on the end 5, which is free, will bey sustained as close as possible tol the leg 2.

' In operation, the Vloop '8 of the bandjcan be inserted between the ends 4and 5 in the manner well understood in thisjart and will assume initially 4the position shown in dot- 7 l 2 and 3 until it engages theends 4' and 5 and as the tension on the Vband loop increases the end 5 is drawn towards the end 4 and both j yside it is supported' by engagement' with the short arm 4 practically at its point of [junction with the side taken up bythe end 5 ported at one side by the 'endsaredrawn intothe plane of the buckle so that under full service conditions the end 5 will resten the end-4 with its shoulder 7 interlocked in thenotchgof the end 4"and these ends will be held interlocked in this position byglthe loop of the band, which will have spreadthe buckle'side 3 until it assumes parallelism with apparent that' thev strain' on ythe band is l Aside 3 of the buckle, of whichitgforms a part, Vand at the other y 2 ofthe buckle, and thus thev end 5 has strength as if it formed a part of both sides i 2 and`3. 'The conformation of the interlocksing portions ofthe ends 4 and 5 such that as these endsv are drawn Vand deformed towards operating position they will outwardly y the side 2.l l VVith the-:ends 4 and 5 thus held in inter-- locked relation by the kband loop,it will be which is fully. sup? practically the same' is preferablyl engage and cause the ends to force the sides 2 and 3 int-o parallelism as the ends interlock and' thus they provide a positive means for drawing the buckle2 into the correct worki ing position.

it is within thepcontem-plation of myinf vention that the interlock of the ends formingv thexopen end of the buckle may be accomplished in a variety of ways responsive to the deformation of said ends by the loop rof the band and I have only sought to illust-rate the one way WhichI consider as. pre

ferrred for accomplishing thisy end. l Though l 'have describedfwithf great particularity the `details ofthe embodiment of the invention hereiny shown, it is not to be construed that I amy limited thereto, 'as changes in arrangementand substitution of equivalents may be madeby those skilled in the art without departing from the invention as defined in the appended claims. 1*

Having thus described myinvention, what l claim as new and desi-'re to secureby Letters Patent, is :-Y .i y; Y.

' 1. A balertie buckle formed ofbent wire `forming a closed end, Sides and inturned free members adapted to be received-in the bight of the bale tie and normally spaced to form the open end of the buckle, one of said memy bersbeing substantially shorter Athan f the `other and adapted to sustain'at its endfad-k jacentv to abuckle'side'the'load strain on the longer tie engagingjmember when in service. Q A bale tiebuckle according to claiml, inwhich the buckle'side carrying'the shorter inturned" member is longer Vthan-the other buckle side. v

3. A'fbale tie buckle according to claim l, in which the side of the buckle carrying-the shorter' inturned Vmember exceeds they other equal-:the buckle. Y y 4.y A bale7 tiefbuckle of bent wire-formed to provide a closed end, sides, and inturned ends on the sides'adapted to be received in thebightof the bale tie and whichfco-actto form the open end of the buckle, one side of the buckle being longer `than the other" and the shorter side of the-"buckle having" its inturned end substantiallylonger-than th'e'inturnedend ofthe longer side of the buckle, theshorter inturned end being adapted to be a point adjacentto the bottom end of the longer buckle side.

` 5. A bale tie buckle according tofclaim 4, in which the longer side ofthe buckle is parallel with the long 'aXis ofthe buckle and the shorter side at its free end converges to-. wards the longer sidel' n f f' 6. A bale tie buckle,comprising` a metallic end, sides and an opten frame having a closed engaged by the longer inturned end whenin Aservice and support 1t at end'formed byinturned' portions yof th'e'sides,

said portions being. adapted to lie wholly .[05 sidein length toan extent AapproXimately f `diameter of the Wire forming the Within the plane of the buckle and to engage and interlock with one member overlying the other as they are deformed by the tension of the bale band loop. l

7. A bale tie bucklehaving an open end formed by diverging flexible portions adapted to be engaged Within the loop ofthe bale band and drawn together by the tension on said loop, said portions having shoulders which lie in the plane of the buckle and interlock when they Iare drawn together and hold the sides of the buckle against spread- A bale tie buckle according to claim 7, in

which the longer of said portions as originally of the buckle and is bent towards the closed end of the buckle.

9. A bale tie buckle according to claim 7, Y .e

in which one of said portions has approxi- Y mately a length equal to the distance between the sides of 'the buckle When parallel and Which is adapted to engage and be supported bythe other portion when in operating position.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

JAMES A. TODD.

disposed is divergent romthe plane 

